Car Parking – Where is it headed?
We are proud to announce the release of the 2015 Whitepaper on CBD Car Parking, a joint project between Parking & Traffic Consultants and Colliers International. The focus of this report is the changing landscape of CBD car parking and the resulting challenges and opportunities created in the car parking business. In our CBDs, supply […]
Creepy car parks – no thanks!
In terms of parking structures, it is likely that every person who drives will have at least three ready examples of “really bad car parks”, because unfortunately, they are commonplace. Whether they are “bad” in terms of design, signage, ease of use, traffic flow, safety or amenity (sometimes all of the above), these are the […]
Decluttering Confusing Signage
The City of Sydney has been presented with a motion to simplify parking and traffic signage across the city. As reported in The Daily Telegraph, Cr Jenny Green presented the motion asking the Council’s CEO to investigate what other cities and local councils are doing to simplify signage. Mosman Council is undergoing a plan to […]
School Traffic Safety: why won’t parents learn?
In NSW the Police and school principals are appealing to motorists and parents to refrain from dangerous driving behaviour in and around schools. In just the first four days of this school year, there has been a 17% increase in the number of motorists caught speeding and a 24% rise in illegal parking infringements issued […]
New York: Parking Grand Central style
So you’re spending a lazy Sunday in New York browsing through the options for an apartment upgrade and you come across 443 Greenwich in Tribeca, New York offering (among the “amenities”) a car park inspired by Grand Central Station complete with valet parking, convenient bike racks and a dedicated entry ramp for cyclists. The following […]
Turning New York City’s parking lots into affordable housing
Photo Credit: Stefan Georgi/Flickr With New York City facing increasing pressure on housing affordability, the NYC based Institute for Public Architecture called for creative ideas and solutions for affordable housing. One of the most intriguing ideas came from fellows of the Institute Sagi Golan, Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich, which targets the abundance of parking […]
Paris plans car free city centre
Photo credit: Christopher Thomond for The Guardian The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo has announced plans to reduce traffic and pollution by converting the city centre to a primarily pedestrian and bicycle zone, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche. Hidalgo wants to tackle the level of pollution in Paris with a view […]
Victoria Decides – Traffic congestion and public transport high on the agenda
In the days counting down to an election the promises and future party policies are announced in rapid fire as last ditch attempts to persuade the undecided. Every speech is an attempt to impress the overall electorate with the “trust us – we know what you really really want” persona of political parties. This process […]
Honda’s new safety technology protects pedestrians
Honda has announced a new driver-assist technology which has the capacity to avoid collisions with pedestrians. The new “Honda Sensing” will be available on the Legend in Japan later this year, as reported by Hybrid Cars. The system utilises a millimetre-wave radar in the front grille and a camera mounted inside the windscreen to forecast […]
Free parking to boost EV sales in Germany
The German cabinet has backed a bill designed to stimulate demand for electronic vehicles by enabling municipalities to offer EV owners incentives such as free parking, and the use of bus lanes, as reported by Businessweek. As a world leader in car manufacturing, the bill simultaneously aims to stimulate the sluggish sales of EVs in Germany […]
World’s first 3D printed car
At the International Manufacturing Technology Show 2014 in Chicago last week, Local Motors has unveiled the first 3D printed car, reports SBS. Manufactured in just 44 hours, the “Strati” (Italian for layers) is set to challenge the traditional methods of car manufacturing. The mechanical components – battery, wiring, suspension – are sourced from a variety […]
Auto-pilot app for driving in traffic jams
A recently announced app developed by Scania and Volkswagen Group Research purportedly will make you more productive while spending time in traffic jams. In terms of road safety, it is hard to imagine that encouraging (more) people to use devices while driving would be a good thing. Nevertheless, the app has won a prestigious award, the 2014 HMi (Human […]
Melbourne’s worst parkers in the spotlight
For the last post of the financial year, we thought we would celebrate parking with a bit of light relief. As we all know, the days of anonymity are long gone since the advent of Social media and smart phones with cameras. Back in the day, you could do something really stupid and no-one had […]
Google Now finds your parked car
Losing sight of one’s car happens all the time, and not just to the memory-impaired! As reported in The Verge, Smartphone users can easily avoid the problem thanks to a recently added feature in the Google Now suite. The latest update takes the popular map app one step further, producing a “parking card” to remind […]
London Congestion Charge to rise
London is also grappling with its pollution problem and is considering changes to its Congestion Charging scheme. Currently imposed on every non-exempt vehicle entering the chargeable district, the levy is slated for a general increase commencing June 2014 from £10 to £11.50 per day. According to the Transport for London website, this increase is […]
Madrid tackles pollution problems with Smart Meters
The City of Madrid is enlisting Smart Parking Meters to help address the city’s dangerous pollution levels, which are consistently exceeding EU limits. According to The Guardian, the scheme which commences on July 1 will penalize drivers of cars that are responsible for more emissions. In a rating system based on the vehicle engine […]
UK invests in green vehicles and their drivers
The UK has taken a bold stand for a greener future with the recent announcement of a £500 m investment in the growing electric car movement, as reported in The Yorkshire Post recently. Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg unveiled the initiative saying “This is about creating a culture change in our towns and cities so […]
Self-driving, self-parking Volvos trialled in Sweden
Volvo has launched its pilot program of driverless cars in Sweden. As reported in The Guardian, the project, called “Drive Me”, is the world’s first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project. The 100 self-driving Volvo cars will be tested on public roads in everyday driving conditions around the city of Gothenburg. “Volvo’s analysis on traffic safety […]
Weekend clearways address Sydney’s constant congestion
In a bid to solve weekend traffic congestion around Sydney, the Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, has recently implemented weekend clearways on Victoria Road, with another four major stretches around the city earmarked for the same (Lane Cove Road, Mona Vale Road, Princes Highway and King Georges/Roberts Road). In an editorial piece in the SMH (second […]
Paris smog triggers emergency traffic ban
In a dramatic attempt to alleviate the choking smog that enveloped Paris last week, the Federal Government imposed an emergency ban on half of the expected traffic by implementing an odd-even license plate system for alternate days, commencing on March 17th. That day, 700 police manned the city issuing spot fines to any cars or […]
Congestion to cost economy $15bn per year by 2030
According to an article last week in the Australian Financial Review, the Abbott government was unmoved by the arguments of the Tourism and Transport Forum, whose members are urging the government to reconsider its position not to invest in public transport. The Tourism Transport forum is an industry group of the CEOs of 200 companies […]
Beware the bollard!
Last month, AAMI published its Annual Crash statistics including state-by-state comparisons of the most common types of events. The National averages have remained reasonably consistent year to year in most categories, with the most common cause, nose-to-tail collisions, hovering between 27% and 29%. Second on the list is the “parked car ding” which by contrast, […]
Results of car-sharing study may be grim news for automakers
As a follow up to our recent blog about the Kandi car-vending machine in China, we came across this article in Treehugger, which featured some interesting results from a study on car-sharing programs in the US.Researchers, Alix Partners, have released the results claiming that approximately 500,000 vehicle purchases have been avoided in the US thanks […]
Australia well-positioned after V2V technology given green light in US
Australian technology companies look to be well placed in what could become the future of road safety for light vehicles. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have recently announced that the US will begin taking steps to facilitate the introduction of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology. V2V technology […]
Tick of approval for safer car parks
The reputation of car parks is slowly evolving, but there is definitely more work to be done in ensuring that they are safe places for the people that use them. Unfortunately, they are still a common place for thugs to commit a crime, be it robbery, assault or even murder. The responsibility of owners and […]
Bogotá leads the way with a car-free week
This story from Treehugger is a great follow up to our recent post featuring former Mayor, Enrique Peñalosa and his inspiring TED Talk on creating cities of the future. Peñalosa was responsible for Bogotá’s first car-free day back in 2000, which was subsequently approved as an annual event. Last week marked a new first in […]
Audi’s Intelligent Assist predicts parking availability
A recent story from Wired has showcased the latest in intelligent technology from Audi. By using “big data”, wireless connectivity and the car’s on-board navigation system, an Audi-developed phone app will not only find parking, but also uses “intelligence” to predict when other spots might open up! Branded as Audi’s Urban Intelligent Assist, the project […]
Tesla S travels across US for free
The Tesla S electric car is in the media again, this time for taking one of its enthusiasts, John Glenny, across the country at no cost. As reported in BRW, Glenny and his daughter travelled from New York to Los Angeles in just five days, via Tesla’s network of Supercharger stations where they were able […]
The Greening of Hamburg
A team of 30 city planners in Hamburg, Germany are working on a massive project that is sure to keep Hamburg in the list of one of Europe’s most sustainable cities. A previous winner of the European Green Capital award in 2011, Hamburg has recently announced ambitious plans for reshaping the city centre over the next […]
BMW adopts technology for the greater good
Last week’s report featured on The Green Car Website reminds us of the Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street. You will remember the part when Kris Kringle, employed at Macy’s, starts sending customers to Bloomingdales when they can’t find what they are looking for? Some might say it is the cleverest marketing strategy around. So, […]